GC Dungeons and Dragons: Almaeron Side Story

Last night we did a one-shot adventure with newly made characters because our regular DM had to take the night off. Here's a brief narrative about how that went.

GC Dungeons and Dragons: Pangea Part 22: Changing Directions

In which I combine two sessions into one write up.

I've been having some trouble getting these started recently, distracted by other things, but I'm hoping to get back on track and do at least these weekly D&D write ups.

GC Dungeons and Dragons: Pangea Part 21: A Very Special Halloween Session

In which the party accomplishes almost nothing.

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia Part 7: Priestess of Mila

Celica heads to sea. Saber. Pirates.

GC Dungeons and Dragons: Pangea Part 20: Time Jumpers

In which our heroes find themselves in the future. This does little to make them less confused about what they are doing.

Note: I was sick last week, so I missed the session. This writeup will include my best understanding of what happened while I was out, as well as adding to our new predicament. 

CW: Discussion of hanging.

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia Part 6: The End is the Beginning

In which I finish Act 1 and begin Act 2, and my earlier prediction looks to be accurate, surprisingly.

AD Dungeons and Dragons Part 10: Crouching Paladin Hidden Druid

In which the party fights the druids we found last session.

GC Dungeon and Dragons: Pangea Part 19: Fire Stone Troll

In which the party finds themselves forced into a one-way tunnel, and meet an ambush.

XCOM: The Long War Part 17: Trains, Battleships and Mutons

In which I take on the Council mission to lure the alien battleship away by placing transponders on a commuter train.

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia Part 5: The Modern Deliverance

A short update in which All reaches the Deliverance hideout.

GC Dungeons and Dragons: Pangea Part 18: The Sound of One Troll Clubbing the Wall

In which we instigate a brawl in the middle of a dark cave system.

Destiny 2: Shadowkeep

A new expansion for Destiny 2 came out this week, and I decided I wanted to write about it a bit before I spend all evening playing. Spoilers for Shadowkeep plot ahead!

GC Dungeons and Dragons: Pangea Part 17: Whistling in the Dark

In which the party moves one step closer to their first full beholder.

Painting and Miniatures Part 6: All that the Eye Can See

Another Painting update, hurray! I've been on and off again with the painting the past month, but I finally found the motivation to focus and get some of it done.

GC Dungeons and Dragons: Pangea Part 16: Burning Down the House

In which the party fights another group of beholder cultists.

XCOM: The Long War Part 16: Terror Missions Are The Worst

In which I get frustrated by a terror mission and take it out on a bunch of Thin Men on a subsequent council mission.

GC Dungeons and Dragons: Pangea Part 15: The Trouble with Kobolds

In which the group recovers from the hectic events of the night and sets out on a fresh attempt to actually take out one of the beholders.

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia Part 4: The Zofian Civil War

In which I play through the remaining three prequel DLC missions to learn about the origins of the Deliverance.

XCOM: the Long War Part 15: New Threats

In which I take on two missions and manage to pull them off without casualties! Also I lost China.

GC Dungeons and Dragons: Pangea Part 14: Free Falling

In which the party continues its infighting, with dire consequences. Also, beholders? Obviously that's a problem that will take care of itself.

GC Dungeons and Dragons: Pangea Part 13: Fallout

In which the group deals with the fallout of the last session. And we may have unleashed something... new.

AD Dungeons and Dragons Part 9: Storming the Hill

Picking up where we left off, the adventurers continue to fight the druid menace.

GC Dungeons and Dragons: Pangea Part 12: It All Falls Apart

In which the group faces consequences. (CW: Suicidal Ideation)

Painting and Miniatures Part 5: Griffin Week

A short painting update.

XCOM: The Long War Part 14: How Do I Solve a Problem like the EXALT?

In which I dip my toes back into this game for the first time in nearly four months, and get a little burned on my first mission.

GC Dungeons and Dragons: Pangea Part 11: Rusted Lightning

In which the party learns about their new magical items. With varying levels of caution. Then we head to Kobold Town and meet a new face of an old foe.

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia Part 3: Let's Do the Time Warp For the First Time

In which I explore the first DLC of Rise of the Deliverance

GC Dungeons and Dragons: Pangea Part 10: Taking the Serpent by the Tail

In which the party attempts to solve the dilemma of a large dragon-serpent guarding magical weapons.

AD Dungeons and Dragons Part 8: Storming the Winery

In which we attempt to root out the problems facing the vineyard and winery.

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia Part 2: Exploration

In which I mostly get to know the system through grinding levels in the first dungeon. That's right, this game has dungeons.

GC Dungeons and Dragons: Pangea Part 9: Sacrifice

In which the party attempts to stop the void left by Maximilliano's death.

GC Dungeons and Dragons: Pangea Part 8: Druids

In which we talk to the Wonderful Druids.

Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia Part 1: Introduction

I'm going to be starting a new series of Fire Emblem posts as I play through Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. This is the 15th game in the series, which is also a remake of the 2nd game in the series, and takes place in the same world that Shadow Dragon did, albeit on a different continent.

This game was released for the Nintendo 3DS, which is a significant upgrade over the original version on the NES. And they went all out for this remake. It has a lot of new content,, full voice acting, full animation cinematic sequences... I've never played the original, so I won't know if there are story differences or mechanics differences (and I can't remember from the wikipedia page) but I already love how it looks. This is the first game in the main series to have full voice acting.

I've also decided I want to approach this game differently than I did with Shadow Dragon. I ended up doing a sort of play-by-play of Shadow Dragon, talking about the full missions as I played them as well as the story, with lots of screenshots. The trouble with that approach is that it ended up being a bit intimidating for me to actually write them, and I barely finished the game. I want this to be a more relaxed experience for my own good. So I plan to play a mission or two and use handwritten notes about what happens to write up later. Screenshots are going to be much rarer as well I think. I'll try to do more of a summary than before, and only take pictures of particularly fun moments.

I'm not planning on using a guide for this play, especially if I'm not writing as I play I'll feel less pressure to get things right the first time out.

That out of the way, let's get started.

I watched the opening cinematic movie. It starts with two children, a boy and a girl, talking about a book they are reading. Long ago, two gods fought for supremacy on the continent of Valentia for many centuries, before finally finding some level of peace. The pair promise they will never be like that. I immediately am concerned that the game is going to tear these two apart horribly.

The cinematic continues to show a blue/green haired man leading armies, and fighting people. The music is pretty cool, with some good vocals.

Starting a new game, I get the option between Normal and Hard difficulty. Normal is an easy choice to make for me, as that's the experience I want. I also get to choose between Casual and Classic; in classic mode there is perma-death, like in the last game, but Casual mode means characters come back even if I lose them in a fight. I think for this play I want to do casual, I don't want my game to be a source of stress or I'll never return to it. Maybe on a second playthrough I'll do Classic mode for the challenge, but this way I won't be restarting maps so often as I did last time... also I'm pleased that it seems unlikely that there are gaiden chapters unlocked by killing half my squad like there were in Shadow Dragon.

With that taken care of, on to the game itself!

Title screen gives a date of something Flostym, 402 V.C. A cinematic plays. A huge dragon skull sits in the middle of a dark room. The two kids from the opening movie, looking grown up, stand on top of the skull. It looks like the boy has killed the girl? There's a sword through her, and she falls. They both seem to be crying. The girl is Ceilica, and the boy cries out her name as she dies.

Well that's a start. My horrible premonition is immediately played out! Alright, good game.

Oh wait there's more. We move on to the Prologue, which takes place in 394 V.C. So we have 8 years before the horrible outcome... we meet the children from the opening cinematic, Alm and Celica, through the eyes of the children of Ram Village. Faye, Gray and Kliff are complaining that Alm spends all his time with Celica, ever since she came to live in Ram Village. Alm and Celica are cousins. Kliff clarifies that Alm and Celica are not cousins, Celica is the ward of Alm's grandfather. Another kid name Tobin enters the scene, excited that a knight was sighted in the woods near the village.

We cut to Alm and Celica in the woods. Celica has made a flower wreathe for Alm. Alm is happy that Celiva has cheered up, as she didn't speak when she first arrived. Alm told her stories, picked flowers and took her on walks attempting to cheer her up. Celica really appreciated it, and tells Alm it really helped to have him around.

They each seem to have a sort of cross mark on one hand, Alm's mark is on the back of his left hand while Celica's mark is on her right palm. I'm sure this will never come up again.

Alm wants always to be with Celica, and Celica is about to say she wants the same thing when they are interrupted by Faye's scream.

A group of soldiers have grabbed the kids we met before. The leader is a knight named Slayde, commander of King Lima IV's knights. Slayde demands the kids lead them to their village. Tobin and Gray protest, determined not to lead these violent strangers to the village. Alm runs in with Celica. Slayde takes an interest in Celica, says General Desaix will want to meet her. Alm punches Slayde! This is going to go south, but go Alm!

Slayde is about to kill the children when Alm's grandfather rides in, full armor and warhorse, and intercepts Slayde's sword. Slayde knows Alm's grandfather as Mycen, and they have history. Not friendly history either. Mycen tells the kids to run, and we're into a fight!

Mycen advises my moves, but as the kids are all level 1 children they can't do much but run and hide (Slayde 'kills' Gray when I try to fight back with the kids...) but the enemies are no match for Mycen. Slayde runs off afterward, muttering about having found the "princess who won't die".

We won! Well, Mycen won. Sorry Gray (at least I'm not doing perma-death, it would be awkward to have to redo the prologue already!)

Alm and Tobin celebrate their victory, Kriff and Faye are just exhausted. Unfortunately, Mycen and Celica don't look happy. It's no longer safe for Celica in Ram village, she'll have to move on. Mycen has another favor to call in. Alm is very upset at this, and wants to know why Celica has to leave. "That's a page you don't want to turn, not yet." Mycen says sadly. Celica apologizes for having to leave, but gives Alm her good luck charm. As Celica and Mycen leave, Alm runs after them, promising that he will find Celica one day when he's stronger. "Please don't forget me."

We get an introductory movie! ...Again! (It feels Final Fantasy VII levels of overdone cutscenes, but I am getting a lot of good backstory from them, and the voice acting is spectacularly good at least.)

This movie shows that dragon skull with a sword in it, and then we get the title. Backstory time! Duma and Milla, the gods, once walked these lands. They fought over ideology; Duma believed humanity needed strength and discipline while Milla believed humanity needed freedom and peace. The two eventually reached a Divine Accord. Duma would get the north of the continent, Milla the south. Peace from the accord has lasted 1000 years, with the kingdom of Zofia in the south and the Rigelian Empire in the north. Zofia, from Milla's gifts, became decadent and depraved, never wanting for anything, while Rigel became cold and numb to kindness, valuing only strength. The two are now on the cusp of war.

We move on to Act 1: Zofia's call. This take place in 401 V.C. (I'm curious what the V.C. stands for.)

So this is 1 year before the horrible opening, and 7 years after the prologue. We open with Alm and Mycen sparring. Mycen has been training Alm, but won't allow Alm outside the village. I'm sure that will be changing in the next two minutes. Ram village is in Zofia. There's a terrible drought, and many people have turned to banditry. Rigel has been crossing the border in violation of the divine accord. And apparently "The Terrors" have resurfaced. That sounds pleasant.

Alm wants to go out and help the innocent people who are suffering. Mycen's response: "Before you dream of changing the world, learn your damn place in it!" So... is Alm Luke Skywalker?

Ooh, I can explore the village, this is different from Shadow Dragon. I get to examine stuff and pick up things like oranges and a splitting axe, and get some extra character from looking at other things (Alm says sheep are jerks, and Cliff scorched Mycen's house practicing fire magic!) I also talk to villagers, who give me even more backstory. Desaix is the chancellor, and puppets King Lima, leading to many rebellions in Zofia.

I traverse the town by moving between points of interest, which I like, it stops me getting lost. Sort of visual novel style. It simplifies things.

At the village gate I meet teenager Tobin and teenager Gray. Tobin says someone is here to see Mycen, although Gray does not trust anyone in full armor. (I'm sorry Gray! I didn't realize Slayde would move down and kill you in the prologue!)

The newcomer is Lukas, who fights for the Deliverance. Alm, Tobin and Gray are all befuddled. Lukas explains that King Lima is dead, killed by Desaix, who sold Zofia to Rigel. The Deliverance was formed by the Zofian knight Clive as a rebellion against this act. Lukas is here to seek the aid of a hero: Mycen.

We get reactions from the kids at the thought of war, and Alm leads Lukas to see Mycen. Mycen refuses to help (off screen, we don't see it and neither does Alm...), so Lukas goes to leave. Alm volunteers to join the Deliverance in Mycen's stead. He wants to prove Mycen is not a coward, and also prove to himself that he is strong enough to make a difference now. Alm asks the others to accompany him.

"Sure, we could all get impaled on the same lance!" is Kliff's droll response, but Gray is in. "I'm not as bright as I'd like to think I am, so count me in."

Tobin gets drawn along when Lukas mentions the army gets paid; he has family who need the financial support. Alm heads back to say farewell to Mycen, but Mycen is nowhere to be found. Hmm...

A rumor in town is that Desaix murdered all of Lima's heirs... so Celica must be the last of them, Mycen called her princess in the prologue. Another rumor is that Zofia is at fault for Rigel's invasion, because Zofia didn't help when Rigel had a famine a few years prior (this rumor comes from a very disgruntled man in the village that I don't like...)

Gray and Tobin are definitely coming.

Gray is my comic relief?

I get the option to recruit Faye and Kliff. I bring them both of course. Faye doesn't want to be apart from Alm, and Kliff wants to see the world.

As we leave, Tobin worries about Alm not saying farewell to Mycen. Alm says he feels called to go do something. Tobin wonders if it's Celica who is calling him, and apparently Alm hadn't considered this?

A world map! That I can walk around on, from encounter to encounter. I wonder if I'll get random encounters? The first fight takes place just steps from the village gate when brigands demand a toll. We promptly kill them all. Alm starts as a fighter, Lukas a soldier, and the others are villagers. Gray and Tobin, who trained the most with Alm and Mycen, are higher level than Kliff and Faye. The graphics of the battles are much improved over Shadow Dragon, very fluid. I run to a second fight. Lukas advises slipping past these brigands because we don't have forever, but when they mention kidnapping a woman Alm charges in anyway. We face down our first enemy archer, and I learn that archers can hit adjacent spaces in this game... but I win with no casualties taken anyway.

I'm going to call it here! This game doesn't seem to have the straightforward chapters that Shadow Dragon did, so I'll just play for a bit until I feel I have enough to talk about. This turned into more play-by-play of the story than summary, but that's something I'll work on as I go I think. I'm really enjoying the gameplay so far, so I definitely want to keep going on this one.

Next time! To the bandit hideout!

GC Dungeons and Dragons: Pangea Part 7: The Wonderful Wizard

In which we're off to see the wizard.

GC Dungeons and Dragons: Pangea Part 6: Of Rats and Goblins

In which somebody dies. (I sure hope it's Griff.)

Painting and Miniatures Part 4: Pins and Progress

Hey it's a post about my creative hobby!

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon Part 20: Endgame

In which I finish the game.

GC Dungeons and Dragons: Pangea Part 5: Elle's Great Forest Adventure

In which Elle taunts the wildlife and suffers the consequences. Then we find a lake.

AD Dungeons and Dragons Part 7: A Familiar Face in Town

In which we meet a new, and possibly old party member, and set off on a quest for the innkeeper.

GC Dungeons and Dragons: Pangea Part 4: Carefully Picking Our Fights

In which we very nearly turn an entire city against us over a small misunderstanding. Not again!

GC Dungeons and Dragons: Pangea Part 3: We Are The Champions

In which the party moves on to the next town and meets a king. Shenanigans ensue.

GC Dungeons and Dragons: Pangea Part 2: The Bear of the Beholder

In which the group recovers from a night of heavy drinking, and Maximiliano outdoes Balazar.

GC Dungeons and Dragons: Pangea Part 1: The Gods Must Be Desperate

In which we are given a new mission.

GC Dungeons and Dragons Part 21: Finale

In which we finish the battle of the Vineyards, and bid our wonderful DM goodbye.

Fire Emblem Part 19: Everything is Proceeding as I have Foreseen

In which we defeat Emperor Palpatine! I mean, Gharnef, the evil mage. Yes, there is absolutely no similarity here.

GC Dungeons and Dragons Part 20: Blighted Wine

In which we explore the Wizards of Winery. And run into some trouble.




I missed a week's session in order to go see the Rifftrax Live: Octaman show. I never thought I'd see a movie worse than Manos: The Hands of Fate, but I think Octaman takes the cake. 

Here is a summary of what happened while I was gone. The group interrogated the undead wizard we defeated the session before, and learned about the location of a weapon we could use against Strand, and also a possible place we might find Strahd. They then went to the blacksmith, learned the blacksmith was dead from the insurrection, and the blacksmith's apprentice was trying to take charge of the shop. Gilligan requested his money back for the armor he had ordered, but the apprentice couldn't afford to pay him back as he was trying to get the shop back on track. At this point, Gilligan made the boy cry and then took the blacksmith's cart as collateral. So that happened? Balazar attempted to head off on his own several times, but Sadun kept an eye on him to keep him out of trouble. In the bar, Balazar attempted to provoke the other patrons when the alcohol ran out by refilling his magical ale jug in front of everyone, but the listless citizens didn't take the bait.

Riktavio somehow got hold of St. Andral's bones and returned them to the church, so Irena was once again safe there, and we left her in Father Lucien's care.

We start our adventure on our way to the Wizards of Winery, pursuing one of the leads we received from ages ago as part of Madame Eva's fortune.

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The journey takes five days from Vallaki. Elle and Talna take turns feeding the group, with Elle's hunting and Talna's magic creating meals from nothing. Sadun helps Elle on some excursions looking find seasoning herbs to spice up the otherwise bland magical food. Elle replenishes her supply of arrows on the trip.

On the first day, Jaro takes an extra trip away from the group to discharge a build up, and Balazar makes a trip out at one point looking for fruits and berries he can ferment into something alcoholic. Elle looks through his pickings upon his return.

"Not this one, or this one, or this one," she says. "unless you want to have explosive runs. Like the ones Jaro must have had." Balazar wisely leaves the marked ones behind. 

The travel is smooth, with no complications, and the group soon arrives in the forest where the Wizards of Winery is located. The road they had been following becomes a muddy trail, descending gradually through the woods until the trees part on a mist-shrouded meadow. The trail splits at this point, one branch heading west into a valley, and the other goes south further into the dark woods. A wooden sign post points west, and is labeled "Vineyard". Following the westward route, the path is soon lined by unpainted fences, and bends to a stately building in a clearing amongst the trees. The grapevines are neatly planted in rows through the field near the building. As the group gets closer, a man in a dark cloak emerges from the treelike and beckons to them.

Elle and Jaro immediately hop off their cart and start strolling towards the man. Sadun follows a moment later, her eyes peeled for trouble, though mostly for trouble Elle and Jaro might cause. In the cart, Talna puts her face in her hands with an exasperated sigh. Balazar makes a rude gesture at the man. 

As Elle and Jaro approach, they get a glimpse of the man's face, and see that he looks eerily similar to Irwin, the bartender of the Bluewater Inn in Vallaki. Behind the man, the pair make out other figures attempting to hide in the underbrush. Jaro waves to them.

"What business have you here?" the man asks once Elle and Jaro are close enough to hear him.

"Our friend Irwin is missing his wine shipment, so we came to investigate the delay," Elle says.

"Yeah, the tavern's kind of dry," Jaro says.

At Irwin's name, the other figures behind the man seem to relax and stand up. They are four men, also cloaked, with similar features to Irwin as well. 

"Yes, I know about the issues, I also am having trouble with the winery." Removing his hood, the man reveals a face that looks like an older version of Irwin. "I am Irwin's father Davian."

"Well, your son is very kind, you have taught him well," Elle says.

"Well met, these are my other sons, Adrian is my eldest, and this is Elvir. This is my daughter Stephania and her husband Dag."

"What happened at the Vineyard?" Jaro asks.

"Can I shoot anybody?" Balazar shouts from the cart.

"No, they're friends," Elle calls back.

"You don't let me have any fun!" Balazar complains, and fires his crossbow into a nearby tree.

"Indeed," Davian says, turning back to Jaro. "Two days ago a group of druids attacked the winery with a horde of blights. They drove my family and me out, and have been holed up in there since, poisoning our fermentation vats, and preventing us from making more wine."

"Druids?" Elle asks.

"About twelve druids, yes."

"And how many blights are there?"

"Hundreds."

"Did you send for help?" Jaro asks.

"Who would help us?" Davian replies.

"Why would they do this thing?" Elle asks.

"I have no idea," Davian replies. 

"Have you scouted the property? Is there a way in?" Jaro asks.

"The closer we get, the more antagonistic they are, so it's been hard."

"What's going on?!" Balazar shouts.

"The winery has been taken over by druids and blights!" Jaro shouts back.

"Please tell me the booze is okay!" Balazar shouts.

"Some of it is!" Jaro replies. 

Balazar leaps from he cart and runs to Jaro, grabbing the satyr and shaking him. "WHAT? WHAT ARE YOU SAYING? WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE BOOZE?"

Davian's group, who had drawn their swords at Balazar approach, look confusedly at the two adventurers. Talna approaches and smacks Balazar in the back of the head, causing him to drop Jaro. 

"What happened to the booze though?" Balazar pleads, holding his normal hand to the back of his head. 

"Well, half of it has been poisoned by druids," Jaro explains.

"THEY MUST ALL PAY!" Balazar roars, starting towards the building. 

"This is your acquaintance?" Davian asks.

"He's our drunkard, yes," Talna says, restraining the dragonborn from charging the building.

"He's good muscle to have around," Jaro adds.

"I'm Talna," Talna says, over Balazar's protests of "They must pay! Save the booze!"

"I'm Elle," Elle says.

"I'm Jaro," Jaro introduces himself with a flourish.

"And I am Sadun," Sadun adds, lending Talna a hand with holding Balazar back.

"And the drunk idiot is Balazar," Talna says. "We have one more friend, Gilligan, who is sleeping in the cart right now."

"We need to avenge the booze!" Balazar shouts.

"As far as we know, there are three barrels and several wine bottles in the cellar, and more is in the fermenting area, but that was where the druids had been corrupting things." Davian says, trying to ignore the raging dragonborn.

"Please tell me they didn't mess up the Red Dragon Wine!" Balazar says, turning his attention back to Davian. Davian looks down in disappointment. Balazar walks back to the trees by the cart, screaming in rage and punching trees. "They will all die!" he swears.

"So, will you help us?" Davian asks, raising an eyebrow at Balazar's display.

"We came to help get Irwin his shipment, and I doubt we can drag Balazar away at this point, so yes, we will do what we can," Talna says.

"We should try to get a better idea of what's going on before we go charging in," Elle points out. "Let's wait until after dark, and I'll sneak in."

"I'm afraid we are not fighters ourselves," Davian says.

"I think we can handle it," Talna says.

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An hour (and a few minutes) after midnight, Elle sets out. Talna and Jaro sit around the campfire watching her go, while Balazar keeps watch on the building from a nearby tree. Sadun and Gilligan take a rest.

Elle sneaks up to the building. Around the back, she finds a loading dock, a long wooden arm extending from a hole in the ceiling over a cart half full of barrels. The door into the building is broken off its hinges, but there is no sign of anything. Elle walks up the stairs, moving slowly and carefully, but nothing stirs in the cart or from the room above. She continues to move slowly, trying to be quiet as she creeps through the broken door. Peering around a corner, Elle sees a large room. A walkway runs around the upper level, allowing access to four large vats. Over one vat, a woman in the dress of a druid pours a vial of some liquid. The floor seems to rustle and Elle realizes it is covered in small twig-like creatures; the blights Davian mentioned. As she leaned out for a closer look, the blights all turn as one, and the druid looks straight at Elle and points. Elle immediately scampers away, but the blights are in hot pursuit. Rushing out to the dock area, Elle sees a chance. Chanting a spell she hurls a rope into the air, where it begins rising on its own into the loading arm room above the cart. Elle is barely able to scramble up the rope before the twig blights are upon her. 

Making the top of the rope, she sees a startled looking man with wild hair sitting in the loading arm room. The man starts gesturing wildly at her, so Elle keeps climbing into the pocket dimension the rope leads to, pulling up the rope after her and shaking big blights off the rope as she does so. Soon, she is relatively safe, ensconced in the dimensional pocket, although blights now fill the room, staring at the spot where she disappeared.

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As Elle sits in her pocket dimension, the party around the campfire is on edge.

"She's been gone too long, hasn't she?" Talna asks quietly. 

"It's only been half an hour," Jaro says, "She's probably fine."

"Does anyone else hear something?" Gilligan says, "I hear a rustling noise, it woke me up."

"No that you mention it, I do," Talna says, standing up. 

A raven alights on a tree near the campfire and caws at the group. Balazar shoots it with his crossbow. The bolt lands solidly in the raven's chest, but it manages to fly away anyway. At the same moment, the rustling turns into a horde of tiny creatures running towards the party at the campfire.

"Twig blights!" Talna shouts. "Sadun, wake up, we are under attack!"

The group finds itself surrounded. Gilligan is the first to act, leaping on his warg Poptart and charging the nearest group of blights. He stabs his lance forward, skewering four of the blights.

Jaro casts Mage Armor, and a glimmering field surrounds his body. He backs up to the fire, preparing a flask of oil in case he gets the chance to douse the blights for a good burn.

Talna summons her spiritual dove, which pecks a twig blight to pieces, and Chill Touch causes another to fall apart, its limbs covered in frost.

Balazar, still in his tree, fires his crossbow. The bolt shattered one blight and continued through into another, pinning it to the ground, but the horde pressed on. Balazar yelled out "Poptart! Be a good dog and bite one of them!" The warg complies, snapping its jaws closed on the last blight facing Gilligan and snapping it in two.

Sadun rushes into the midst of the largest group she can see and plunges Briarblade into the ground. A circle of flowers blooms all around the dragonborn barbarian, magical petals and pollen causing several of the blights to fall lifeless to the ground.

Talna finds herself swarmed by eighteen of the wooden monsters. They swarm around her legs, stabbing with their arms and biting at her knees. Several of them land blows, and Talna staggers back, bleeding. Five more run at Gilligan, but are unable to get past his armor and Poptart's dancing feet. Eight of the blights close in on Jaro, stabbing him in the thigh despite his magical protection. Sadun finds herself facing ten remaining blights, which swarm over her tall form, drawing blood from her back and shoulders before Sadun is able to shake them loose.

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In her pocket dimension, Elle sees the druid woman enter the room below her. The blights turn to look at the woman, then turn to look at the place where Elle disappeared. The woman looks up in Elle's direction, then turns and leaves, smiling.

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Gilligan summons a spiritual gauntlet, and stabs another of the blights with his lance. The gauntlet then clotheslines another pair of the blights into the ground.

Jaro, attempting to help Talna, summons his magical power. Opening his mouth, he unleashes a cone of fire upon the blights, burning Talna in the process. Seven of the creatures fall to the ground, burnt to a crisp, but the rest scatter out of the way.

Sadun allows herself to fly into a rage, swinging Briarblade with reckless abandon. The blade smashes two blights, then on the backswing batters three more to the ground.

Talna's dove fails to land a hit, but Talna casts Toll the Dead, the necrotic energies sapping the life from four more of the blights.

Balazar fire his crossbow again, killing two more blights. "Poptart! Kill another one!" he shouts. The warg again snaps its jaws, catching the remaining two blights in front of him and crushing them both.

The blights stab Jaro again, but only manage a few glancing blows. Jaro retorts with a viscous insult, and another blight dies in shame. The blights around Talna are too busy avoiding the smoldering remains from Jaro's fire breath, and fail to hit Talna, while the ones around Sadun manage to get another jab through her defenses.

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In the winery, Elle notices the man with wild hair moving out of his corner. He raises a staff and points it in her direction, mumbling something she can't make out, but she thinks it may be a magic spell...

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Around the campfire, the party begins to feel victory is in their grasp, when they hear a familiar rumbling, babbling noise approaching them through the forest...

TO BE CONTINUED!

AD Dungeons and Dragons Part 6: Asking the Wrong Questions

In which the adventurers fight some vampires and does some investigating.

XCOM: The Long War Part 13: Training Mission

In which we have a relatively easy mission, and lose a Satellite.

Cooking: Sweet Bread and Oat Bars

Just a short post about baking something I've wanted to try for a long time.

GC Dungeons and Dragons Part 19: Bears in the Basement

In which the party explores the basement of Fiona Wachter's mansion.

GC Dungeons and Dragons Part 18: Control Your Gnome

In which we meet a new party member, and promptly try to murder him.

Movie Impressions: King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)

In which I reflect on the first Godzilla vs. another monster movie on my list.

Painting and Miniatures Part 3: Motivation

In which I reflect on the last few month's painting progress.

XCOM: The Long War Part 12: EXALT

In which we deal with our first EXALT mission.

GC Dungeons and Dragons Part 17: Aftermath

In which the party deals with the fallout of the battle last session, and attempts to decide what to do next.

Movie Impressions: Daikaiju Varan (1958)

I watched the fourth movie on my Kaiju watchlist over the weekend, one I hadn't seen before.

Movie Impressions: How to Train Your Dragon

A new series in which I talk about movies I've watched recently. Today: How to Train Your Dragon

AD Dungeons and Dragons Part 6: Shooting People for Their Money.

In which we arrive in Vallaki, foist some children off on the first person who will take them, and then immediately begin investigating a theft.

GC Dungeons and Dragons Part 16: Showdown

In which we participate in the Battle of Vallaki Square. (It's probably not as grandiose as that, but I feel like Sadun is part Bard at heart...)

GC Dungeons and Dragons Part 15: Whose Side Are We On?

In which we fight everyone.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon Part 18: The Battle of Macedon

In which Minerva and the Whitewings remove Minerva's brother and retake their homeland.

XCOM: The Long War Part 11: Absolute Terror

In which I face the mission I am most afraid of in this game, and my heart tries to beat its way out of my chest.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon Part 17: Victory and Loss

In which we locate the Starsphere and Lightsphere, meet another great character in the form of Tiki, and face off against General Camus.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon Part 16: Est

In which I meet my favorite character so far.

GC Dungeons and Dragons Part 14: The Final Bear

In which we have an unexpected confrontation, and Elle gets Blinksy killed.

GC Dungeons and Dragons Part 13: Brunch and Politics

In which the party has brunch and tries to decide what to do next.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon Part 15: Liberating Altea

In which we retake Altea castle and free Marth's homeland.

XCOM: The Long War Part 10: Once More With Feeling

In which we take on a small UFO shot down in the last session.

XCOM: The Long War Part 9: Overcoming Fear

In which the team takes on its first Terror Mission.

GC Dungeons and Dragons Part 12: Deliberately and Repeatedly Poking the Bear of Authority

In which we face consequences and consider what to do next.

XCOM: The Long War Part 8: Frustration

In which I get frustrated, but persevere for eventual victory.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon Part 14: Shape-shifting for fun and profit

In which we free the lands of Altea and meet an intriguing new member of the army. Also arena grinding.

GC Dungeons & Dragons Part 11: Comedy of Errors, or How Balasar Got His Booze Back

In which the party splits up, and splits up again. Chaos ensues.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon Part 13: Why Do Invincible Mages Always Have to be Evil?

In which I try and try and try again to deal with the desert.

AD Dungeons and Dragons Part 5: The Best Laid Schemes o' Scarecrows an' Ravens Gang Aft A-gley

In which our party attempts to walk down the road and sneaks into a windmill.

GC Dungeons & Dragons Part 10: Vampire and Vampires and Vampires, Oh My!

In which we discover crates of vampires, and then save the town?

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon Part 12: Vengeance is a Dish Best Served with Pegasi

In which Marth gets revenge on the kingdom of Gra, who betrayed and murdered his father.

GC Dungeons & Dragons Part 9: Bears in Crates

In which our adventurers enter Vloki, and attempt to solve a mystery.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon Part 11: Woah, We're Halfway There!

In which I take on 3 chapters, and learn the pain that is Ballisticians. Also we learn about a new kind of shopping!

Models and Painting Part 2: Straightening Up

Update on the state of my desk

Some of my older work

XCOM: The Long War Part 7: Triple Threat

In which I learn some hard lessons in the Council mission, and play two more missions to make up for it.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon Part 10: You Can Always Hit the Reset Button

In which Marth conquers some islands and I face my most challenging map so far.

GC Dungeons and Dragons Part 8: Poked by the Bear

In which we have a bit of a fight.

XCOM: The Long War Part 6: Casualty

In which we stop an alien abduction in France, but at a high cost.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon Part 9: Smooth Operator

In which Caeda takes a break in the middle of a fight to flirt.

Painting and Miniatures Part 1: The Hobby

In which I discuss my miniatures wargaming interests and the state of my painting desk.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon Part 8: Reinforcement Grind

In which Marth travels to Lefcandith Valley and I work on leveling some people up.

AD Dungeons and Dragons Part 4: The Best Taunts

In which the party travels and meets a fortuneteller.

GC Dungeons and Dragons Part 7: In Barovia, Bears Poke You!

In which we do some traveling.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon Part 7: Halls of Blood

In which I unlock a Gaiden chapter by any means necessary.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon Part 6: So many new people

In which Marth moves to the last holdout against the Dolhr aggression and we get a bunch of new recruits.